Currently, inventory management, i.e., the presentation and maintenance of adequate levels of stock on product support devices (e.g., shelves, racks, display stands, aisle endcap displays, etc.) is a continuing and labor-intensive effort. For example, in order to provide a good presentation to customers, it is desirable to maintain displayed stock levels as close as possible to the maximum levels. In the event that certain products run out and are no longer displayed on the shelves (sometimes referred to as a “stock out”), store operators typically lose significant revenue because customers are either unable to find the products they desire to purchase, or they fail to recognize an opportunity to purchase products on impulse. In addition, it may be difficult to recognize low inventory or stock out situations in a supply room or warehouse, leading to delays in reordering. In order to address this, stock clerks or other personnel are tasked with constantly monitoring the displayed stock and responding when displayed stock runs low or when the display of the products on the shelves is sub-optimal, e.g., disorganized, misplaced, etc. As this is a strictly manual process, such efforts tend to be relatively expensive and occasionally prone to error. These problems associated with manually monitoring inventory in retail environments are equally applicable to non-retail environments where maintenance of inventory levels is nevertheless important, e.g., warehouses.
In a similar vein, it is often the case that the manufacturers of certain products enter into agreements with retailers to ensure that their products are displayed in a particular manner. Thus, it becomes necessary to continually audit the performance by the retailers in properly displaying the manufacturer's products. However, such auditing and verification tasks have previously been implemented manually. That is, agents are typically sent into the field to personally inspect a given retailer's operations to verify compliance with the promotional campaign. Given the sheer number of possible retailers for a given product, such a manual solution quickly becomes cost prohibitive thereby requiring only spot checks, which is less than an optimal solution.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide techniques that automate many of these verifications of stock inventory and display tasks that have previously been addressed using manual techniques. It would be further beneficial if such automated techniques could be used to provide more detailed understanding of how products are actually displayed.